<p>I recently received this email from a coach that has been somewhat detached and not very enthusiastic in my contact with her. I'm not even sure if she's recruiting me...can anyone help determine what the meaning of this email is? This is for an extremely competitive school as far as admissions. I have excellent academic stats, and my athletic stats are great in comparison to the athletes already on the team, so I'm pretty confused as to why the coach is pretty unresponsive to me...she has said in the past that I would be a very strong candidate for the school and was the one who reached out to me in the first place.</p>
<p>Hi <strong><em>,
Congratulations on a successful fall season. I wanted to remind you that the </em></strong> application is due by *****, so please keep that in mind over the upcoming month. I also wanted to recommend that you keep us posted on how your season goes for you so we can keep you in the mix for earning a spot on our team. Best of luck as you prepare for the track season ahead.
Best wishes,</p>
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<p>She sent me this email about a month ago when I asked how I stood as far as the recruiting process and about doing an overnight:</p>
<p>Hi *<strong><em>,
At this point of the recruiting process we would wait to see if you were accepted to *</em></strong> before setting you up on a visit with us. In the mean time, please keep me updated at the end of the cross country season on how you are doing so we can continue to keep you in the mix for a spot on our team. Keep up the great work and I'll look forward to keeping in touch.
Best,</p>
<p>This sounds to me like the coach isn’t sure where their program and school rank with YOU. If this is your first choice school (or in the top 5), you should email the coach back and tell her so. If, as you say, you are an academic match, and exceed their athletic standard in your sport, she will be jumping up and down for joy, and will probably send you a really enthusiastic reply. </p>
<p>Because your athletic talents are higher than her usual recruit, she may feel that you are not really a match her team, and that you will probably end up going somewhere else. With your academic and athletic stats, she may think you are being recruited hard by some programs that are “better” than hers. She is probably giving a lot of attention to athletes that she thinks have a high likelihood of choosing her program (those who match or only slightly exceed the talents of her current team). </p>
<p>If you don’t mind sharing a little more info, tell us the league/division, or PM some of the parents on this forum who post about the school or league you’re interested in and we’ll see if we can help.</p>
<p>I interpret it the same way as riverrunner. It sounds like she may feel she’s the backup school. If that’s your top choice, by all means let her know.</p>
<p>Are you a senior? Is this a D1, Ivy, or D3 school? </p>
<p>Also, not sure what this means:</p>
<p>“At this point of the recruiting process we would wait to see if you were accepted to **** before setting you up on a visit with us.”</p>
<p>Is **** her school or another school you told her that you applied to? If it’s her school, it sounds to me that she thinks you may get in on your own merit, and if yes, may be a walk-on. If it’s another school, but her school is your top choice, email her right aways and clarify.</p>
<p>Are there other schools that you have been in contact with and where the coach offers you help with admission?</p>
<p>This is an Ivy school, one of the toughest schools for admissions in the country.<br> @beenthere2: that’s an interesting point, because that happened to me with another Ivy coach - he implied that I would not have a problem with admission based on my academic statistics (even without his support) and was therefore less forward in trying to “recruit” me, as he assumed that I would get in and walk on.
I’m wondering if this might be the same kind of situation, or maybe she has a ridiculously talented recruit pool this year? I just sent her an email saying that her school is my first choice, I would love to be able to run on the team, etc. and hopefully she will email me back with some clarification.</p>
<p>I agree with pacheight. Call. Remove all doubt or uncertainty and call the coach to get it straight. It would appear written communication is leaving you with questions. You need to be real clear on the status and what next steps are if this is your #1 choice.</p>